Downtown Gdansk has been getting more beautiful in recent years, but Długa Street and Długi Targ Street remain unchanged. And this despite the poor condition of the pavement, as well as numerous announcements of renovations. Will the representative part of the city live to see reconstruction and at the same time retain its historic character?
TheRoyal Road encompasses Długa Street and Długi Targ, it is at this address that the most important monuments of Gdańsk are located: the Golden Gate, Artus Court, Neptune's Fountain and the Main Town Hall. In 2014, a major reconstruction of the street was announced by the late Mayor of Gdansk Pawel Adamowicz, then running for a fifth term. Planned on a grand scale, the renovation was to begin in 2016 and cost around PLN 50 million. At the same time, Adamowicz proposed creating the position of downtown manager to help revitalize the city's central district. While the appointment of the manager has come to fruition, the renovation of the Royal Way has not begun to this day. And this is despite extensive preparations.
A view of the Main City Hall
photo: Artur Okonowicz
grand plans stalled
In 2016, the guidelines for the redevelopment were drawn up by a Program Council composed of historians and preservationists. Where possible, the existing ballast slabs should be preserved, as these, experts said, give the street its historic character. They also recommended not restoring the forebays on Dluga Street, which disappeared in the second half of the 19th century. One of the reasons was that the iconography of many of them had not survived. The Program Council also took greenery under its microscope. And it decided that a small-leaved linden tree should appear in the Royal Way space. However, the idea of returning to running a tramway in the street was rejected (the tracks were removed during the last renovation in 1972).
The milestone was supposed to be the selection of a reconstruction project in an architectural competition, but in the end the city abandoned these plans. The reason? Officials felt that a competition would incite architects to experiment, and that's not the kind of effect they expect in a historic space. So the contract was awarded outright to Restudio and Gzowski Architects, whose bid was the cheapest. But even here it was not without controversy, as such a solution caused heated discussions among architects and urban planners.
Visualization, view of Długa Street
© Restudio/Gzowski Architects
Conservator: I am against the project.
As the architects responsible for the project said in an interview with the Gdańsk.pl portal, the pavement of Długa Street and Długi Targ "should be as monochromatic as possible." The designers decided to place the remaining historical ballast plates around the main space - moving them under the facades of the tenement houses so as to emphasize the location of the former forecourts. The main part of the floor was to be paving of cut smooth granite.
The use of only shades of granite that correspond to the historic ballast slabs will bring out the multicolored nature of the architecture," noted Maciej Jacaszek in an interview with Gdańsk.pl.
Igor Strzok, Pomeranian Conservator of Monuments, is critical of the project. This is not the first time his office has not spoken with one voice with city officials. The bone of contention is, among others, the renovation of Ogarna Street, or the city's Façade OdNowa program, through which more than a hundred townhouses in the Main City were decorated with the cooperation of the city and artists.
Visualizations of the Dluga Street and Dlugi Targ reconstruction project commissioned by the city show that the architects proposed a homogeneous pavement of reddish granite tiles, says Igor Strzok, Pomeranian Regional Monument Conservator. - And only the surfaces of the non-existent frontages of the northern frontage of Dlugi Targ would be made of historic so-called ballast tiles. I am against this project, but it will probably not be directed to implementation in the coming years anyway. After all, from the statements of our partners from the city, it seems that the investment will be postponed for another few years.
Visualization, view of the Golden Gate
© Restudio/Gzowski Architects
compromise on 200-meter stretch
Indeed, all indications are that redevelopment plans have been pushed back. But the city is preparing to overhaul a 200-meter section of Dluga Street and Dlugi Targ from Shoal Street to the Green Gate.
The first reconstruction project for this section was rejected by the Pomeranian conservationist in the middle of last year. It assumed replacing the surface of the central part of Dlugi Targ with smooth flamed granite pavers.
Since August 2019, talks have been ongoing on how to reconcile the preservationist's expectations with those of the city. Compromises have probably been reached, while we are still waiting for the conservator's stance on the possibility of a cut pavement," Michal Szymanski, deputy director of the Gdansk Roads and Greenery Authority, said in May this year.
Igor Strzok: As a result of discussions with the city, we have come to the conclusion that we are treating the replacement of the pavement as a repair, an ad hoc measure. We assume that in the coming years there will be a major comprehensive reconstruction combined with archaeological research and replacement of underground infrastructure. - At present, we allow the use of contemporary granite stone pavement, but we do not agree that it should be flamed, but pebbled pavement, as this one is more reminiscent of historical pavement, and only in the two middle lanes of Dlugi Targ, while on the side lanes the gray granite tiles are to be replaced with split granite pavement.
visualization
© Restudio/Gzowski Architects
The first stage of the renovation will include the replacement of the road surface in the central part of the street. In this stage, the existing cobblestone pavement will be replaced with another, slightly larger cube with a pebbled top surface. The second stage will involve the renovation of the remaining street surface. It will involve replacing the existing granite slab pavement with stone cubes obtained from the demolition of the middle part of the street. The work is scheduled to begin in spring 2021, but implementation depends on obtaining a decision from the Pomeranian conservator.
We have submitted all the required documents and are waiting for the decisions," explains Magdalena Kiljan, spokeswoman for the Gdansk Roads and Greenery Authority.
